(By Raheel Adnan) "19.07.2013: Nanga Parbat peak (summit) was reached 8126m", the Romanian Nanga Parbat Expedition team shared the news on social media at 1500hrs Pakistan time. On Broad Peak, the efforts to assist Iranian climbers on the descent haven’t been successful yet. The climbers are reported to have said that their ‘situation is critical’.

Nanga Parbat

The Summer 2013 season started with more than 50 climbers intending to climb Nanga Parbat from Diamir and Rupal sides. The Romanians were alone on Rupal side with intentions of reaching the top via Schell route, whereas the majority of teams were attempting Kinshofer route on Diamir side. On the night of 22nd June, a group of terrorists stormed the Diamir BC, killing 11 climbers. As a result of this massacre all climbers were evacuated from Diamir side and expeditions were suspended to the region.

The five members (Marius Gane, Teo Vlad, Zsolt Torok, Bruno Adamcsek and Aurel Salasan) of the Romanian Team, who arrived in Pakistan in first week of June, were concluding acclimatization and route fixing to Mazeno Pass, when Diamir BC was attacked. After a week of chaos, they eventually got the permission to proceed with their climb on Rupal side.

The first attempt to reach the summit was carried out in the first week of July, but strong winds halted the team's progression at C4 (7200m). They had to come back to BC and wait for another summit window. The Second summit attempt began on 12th July, when all five climbers moved to C1 (5100m), targeting the summit between 17th & 19th July depending upon weather. The ascent continued with establishment of temporary camps above C4 (7200m).

Unfortunately, Bruno Adamcsek suffered altitude sickness and had to turn back to lower camps. Marius, Teo, Zsolt and Aurel put the last camp at 7500m on 18th July. From here, the summit bid was launched yesterday night. It’s reported that Marius started climbing at 1AM, while the other three left the camp at 4AM. Marius was first to reach the summit, followed by Aurel and Zsolt, while at the time of last report, Teo still needed one hour to reach the top. The team is expected to descend to 7500m, after the summit.

Rescue Attempts on Broad Peak

Efforts are being made to reach and rescue the three Iranian climbers stuck near Broad Peak Pass at 7800m; exhausted and without water, food and shelter. As per Iranian website KoohNews, unfortunately, all attempts made so far have been unsuccessful.

Contact was made with Aidin Bozorgi, this morning at 0600Hrs. As per him, they are feeling like crippled men and are unable to move.

Two Pakistani porters, who reached C3 yesterday, went up today, early in morning. At 0800Hrs, they were seen approaching the pass, but unfortunately they returned to C3 at 1300Hrs. The Porters were unable to locate the stranded climbers.

Meanwhile, help is being arranged from other teams in the region. Swiss K2 climbers, Mike Horn and Fred Roux, are on Broad Peak now. They were approaching C2 at 1300Hrs. The Iranian Mountaineering Federation is in contact with Pakistani officials and Sherpa in the region to accelerate rescue attempts. Heli-search is out of question, as the Askari Aviation helicopters cannot go beyond 6500m.

Rescue and More Summits on GII

As per American GII climber, Jon Kedrowski, they have sent some of their Sherpas to rescue a Taiwanese climber who fell off the summit ridge. It’s reported that two Taiwanese pushed for summit; one of them made it to the top, while the second suffered the fall and was carried back to C3. Further details about the accident are not available yet.

Jon also reports that four Belgian climbers are currently attempting to utilize the narrow weather window to reach the top. Arnold Coster, leader, reported that Stef Maginelle, Sofie Lenaerts, Koen Verschraegen and Guido Riemenschneider went up to try to catch this window, but in order to do this they have to skip some camps, he added. Jon, Grace, Mark and Arnold decided to wait for a more longer weather window after the 24th.

Based in Lahore, Pakistan, telecom engineer and mountaineering enthusiast Raheel Adnan is a reporter for ExplorersWeb's mountaineering sections. He shares regular updates on Twitter and runs his own blog at AltitudePakistan posting initiated climbing news from Himalaya and Karakoram.